Roy Aubrey Grantham CBE (12 December 1926 – 25 October 2013) was a United Kingdom trade union leader who was the last general secretary of the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) which was involved in the Grunwick dispute in the 1970s. He was born in Birmingham and attended King Edward VI Grammar School, Aston before being conscripted to work in a coal mine as a Bevin Boy. He then worked for the Inland Revenue which he left to become a full-time union organizer for the Clerical and Administrative Workers Union in 1959. In 1963 he became the assistant secretary and in 1970 the general secretary. He was also member of the

TUC General Council The General Council of the Trades Union Congress is an elected body which is responsible for carrying out the policies agreed at the annual British Trade Union Congresses (TUC). Organisation The council has 56 members, all of whom must be proposed ...

for 11 years. Grantham was considered a moderate leader and during a bitter dispute at the Grunwick film processing plant he faced criticism from other trade unionists for not asking other unions to cut off power and supplies, but he explained that it would be illegal to do so. He also expressed concern that picketing by other unions such at the Yorkshire miners led by Arthur Scargill would not help. Grantham then became the president of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions and the Labour government appointed him a director of

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

UK, but he resigned in 1981 when the company closed its Linwood plant in Scotland. In 1985 he was elected chairman of the TUC employment committee. He was pro-European and did not support

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of the banks but supported nationalisation in other sectors.Daily Telegraph Obituary Roy Grantham
Retrieved 11 November 2013 He was appointed a CBE in the

1990 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1990 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grantham, Roy 1926 births 2013 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire General Secretaries of the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress People educated at King Edward VI Aston School People from Birmingham, West Midlands